


How Not to Propose (by Cloud Strife)

by unknownusername



Category: Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Edit: I fixed the typos sorry, F/M, They will be happy goddammit, no beta bc i'm lazy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:13:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24042643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknownusername/pseuds/unknownusername
Summary: How Not to Propose to the Love of your Life - a tragic comedy by Cloud Strife"Are you proposing? Are you proposing right now?""Um," he says intelligently. "Yes?"
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Cloud Strife
Comments: 23
Kudos: 141





	How Not to Propose (by Cloud Strife)

**Author's Note:**

> Before you come at me I know that Denzel is raised by Tifa Barrett and Cloud okay, but in this au it will be Tifa, Barrett, Cloud and Aerith.

Cloud wakes up alone.

He shoots up from the bed, reaching for his sword and is out the bedroom door in only a few seconds. He goes straight for the stairs. He doesn't even have on shoes, had been tricked into thinking they were safe, they were supposed to be safe but now she's gone, she's gone and Cloud was asleep-

"Whoa! Easy there, you almost knocked me over!" Aerith grabs onto his arms, steadying herself as Cloud grounds to a halt. "Where are you going in such a rush?"

"Aerith," he says, stunned.

"Yeah?" She tilts her head at him. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Cloud can't speak, the fear that was choking him is still at his throat. He reaches for her, grabbing her arms to make sure she's real.

"Aerith," he repeats weakly.

"Cloud?" She reaches up to gently cradle his face. "Take a breath, slow down. Everything's alright. We're safe."

Cloud pulls her into a crushing hug, curling over her so his forehead touches her shoulder. Aerith's arms immediately go around his neck, her hand soothingly stroking his hair.

"Bad dream?" She asks.

"No," he doesn't let go of her just yet, he doesn't think he can if he tried. "You were gone."

"Hm? I was checking on my flowers." Aerith pauses her ministrations. "Is that why you woke up?"

"Thought you were- that he- that we didn't-" Cloud can't even get the words out of his mouth. Aerith, who knows him so well, understands him anyway.

"Oh," she says. "Oh, Cloud, I'm sorry. I didn't want to wake you, you looked so tired. I shouldn't have done that."

"No it's fine, you shouldn't have to tell me where you're going."

"Silly Cloud," she says affectionately. "Don't you know that I don't want you to worry? Or be sad? It's no trouble if it makes you feel better."

Cloud says nothing, only takes in her warmth in his arms, her chest rising and falling with his. She smells like fresh air and flowers. She's safe here with him. She's alive.

After they defeated Sephiroth, Aerith had been drained of power, bleeding profusely from the gaping wound in her stomach and coughing blood. Cloud had pressed against her wound, trying to stop the bleeding, and Aerith had screamed in pain. She was crying in pain, but trying to hide it, still reaching for him. Trying to comfort him.

" _Cloud, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry._ " She had whispered to him.

" _You're going to be fine,_ " he had told her. He yelled for Tifa to hurry up. Tifa was frantically looking through their supplies for any left over Ether.

" _Cloud, please look at me,_ " Aerith pleaded and who was he to deny her. She grasped his face in her bloody hands and smiled for him. " _I don't regret it, not a single moment. I love you._ "

Cloud had choked on a sob, " _Aerith, stop talking like that, you're going to be fine, you were supposed to be fine. We were supposed to have changed it._ "

 _"Maybe some things can't be changed,_ " she weakly tugged him towards her. " _Don't blame yourself, okay? I want you to be happy._ "

" _Aerith please,_ " Cloud was begging now, crying, " _Please don't leave me, please don't go._ "

Tears dripped down her temples and she let out a ragged sob. " _I love you_."

" _Aerith?_ " He asked when she abruptly stopped moving. Her chest was still heaving for breath, but her hands slackened, dropping limply to her sides. " _Aerith, no, no, no, please, Aerith please._ "

With one last shuddering exhale, Aerith closed her eyes. Cloud remembers screaming, he remembers sobbing and he remembers Barrett having to pull him away from her body so Tifa could work on Aerith.

It had taken hours, with them taking turns drinking Ethers to keep Aerith stable enough to bring her to the nearest town. Cloud had kicked the door open to the town's doctor, shouting for help, and the last he saw of Aerith for the next three days was her being wheeled down a hallway, doctors and nurses yelling over her prone body.

It had taken three days for her to be stable enough that Cloud could see her and it had taken two weeks for her to wake up. Cloud hardly left the room, terrified that if he did she would somehow disappear.

"Hey, come back to me, Cloud." Cloud is brought back to the present when Aerith kisses his temple. "I can feel you getting lost in that head of yours."

"Sorry,"

"Come on, let's go do something fun today!" Aerith suggests. She rocks from side to side, causing Cloud to rock with her. He knows she's doing it just to make him smile at her playfulness.

"Like what?"

"Swimming!" Aerith says cheerily. "Come on Cloud! I'll race you."

"You're on."

Aerith starts to turn straight to the front door but Cloud grabs her wrist. She looks at him, raising an eyebrow.

"You need to change first."

"Change? Why? I'm going to take it all off anyways."

Cloud blushes furiously. "Anyone can come over at any time, what if they see you?"

Aerith's expression screams that she couldn't care less and Cloud scowls, turning her back to the stairs.

"You're not skinny dipping."

"Aww, Cloud, you're no fun," she pouts. "Are you scared someone is going to see us? My mom's still at the Kalm Inn with Marlene and Barrett."

"The last thing I need is your mom coming home and seeing us naked in the lake." Cloud grumbles. "She already doesn't like me."

"That's not true! She's just protective."

"Is that what we're calling extreme dislike now?"

Aerith laughs, kissing his cheek fondly. "Alright, grumpy, I'll go change."

  
  


They spent the morning in the lake, Aerith challenging Cloud to races and Cloud showing no mercy winning them. Aerith would whine and pout but Cloud knows if he let her win she'd be annoyed with him. When they were breathless and laughing, Aerith wrapped her arms around him and secured her legs around his waist. In the water, she is even lighter than she is on land, he doesn't even need to hold her up, but he places his hands under her thighs out of habit.

Aerith pushes his wet hair out of his face, leaning forward until their foreheads touch.

"I'm sorry for scaring you," she says quietly. "I know I really scared you back then, when I was hurt. But I'm okay now, see? We're both safe."

"For now," Cloud says somberly. "There's still Shinra. They're out there rebuilding."

"Maybe, but they won't be strong enough to attack for a while. And there are so many possibilities, Cloud! For the first time in ages, I don't know what's going to happen. I'm alive, I'm free of my fate. We can do anything now."

Cloud melts under her beaming smile. She gently bumps his nose with hers, bringing a fond smile onto his face.

"There it is," she says, "Your beautiful smile."

He rolls his eyes, ignoring the way his cheeks burn at the compliment. He's so unused to her honest, generous praises and he still doesn't quite know how to deal with that. Aerith kisses him, moving from his bottom lip to the corner of his mouth and back to the center.

"I love you, Cloud." She says.

"Not as much as I love you," he responds immediately.

"Oh? Is that a challenge?" She raises an eyebrow, mischief sparking in her eyes. He loves her so much, he feels breathless. He doesn't have the words to explain how much he loves her, he won't ever be able to put this feeling into words.

"What if it is?" He asks.

"I guess I'll just have to show you then." Aerith says coyly before springing forward. Cloud is unprepared when Aerith starts pressing kisses all over his face, complete with overdramatic kissing sounds. She must be trying to kiss every bit of skin she can reach because she kisses his nose, his cheeks, his jaw, his forehead and temples and both cheeks. Cloud can't help but laugh, feeling warm with happiness.

"I love that sound," she says between kisses.

"What sound?"

"Your laugh," he can't see it but he just knows she's rolling her eyes. "Duh."

Cloud has to grasp her face gently in his hands so he can stop her wiggling and kiss her. He doesn't know what to do with all this happiness and love inside him. He feels like he's so full of it he might burst apart. He's never had a reason to be so happy, he hasn't ever been this happy in his life. He's never felt love like this, a love that makes you feel like you could do anything in the world as long as you were by that person's side. He didn't even know you could love someone this much.

Cloud kisses Aerith gently, reverently, because it was what Aerith deserved. She is beautiful and so precious to him. He can feel her smile against his mouth, but it slips as they kiss longer, Aerith opening up so sweetly to him. Cloud doesn't know what he did to deserve someone so _good_.

"Someone's in a good mood," Aerith mumbles against his lips.

"How could I not be? I've got the most beautiful girl in the world in front of me."

Aerith snorts a laugh, and bumps her nose gently into his.

"So smooth," she teases. She slides her hands into his hair, tugging playfully.

"I'm always smooth," he protests. It's a lie, of course. He has never been smooth around Aerith a day in his life.

Aerith laughs so hard, she almost knocks their heads together. Cloud watches fondly as she wipes under her eyes dramatically.

"Oh yeah? Mister I Cannot Make Eye Contact When You're In Fancy Dresses," Aerith grins up at him. "It's cute when you're embarrassed, don't take that from me."

"Well, if it's for your sake," he sighs, playing along. As if he could ever not indulge her. Aerith has him wrapped around her tiny finger and he is completely okay with that.

"It is, it makes me very happy," Aerith rests her arms over his shoulders. "We have the whole day together, the world isn't ending, we could do anything we want right now. What do you want to do?"

Cloud honestly doesn't care. "Whatever you want."

"Come on! You must want to do something."

"Not really. As long as I can be with you, I'm happy." Cloud has learned through their months together on the road that Aerith, unlike most people, likes him when he's blunt. Cloud's mother always warned him that his brutally honest nature would get him into trouble and she was right for the most part. It was off putting and people thought he was being rude. Most of the time, Cloud just didn't care. Or he had taught himself not to, same difference. Aerith delights in his honesty, for some reason he really doesn't understand.

"Cloud," she says, blushing faintly. "My sweet Cloud, who let you be this cute?"

Cloud frowns. "I'm not cute, I'm a Soldier."

"So? You can't be both?" She pinches his nose, causing him to scowl at her. It doesn't last, as soon as she smiles again he feels himself melting. "What if I want to lie in bed all day? Or go to the Leaf House and decorate the whole place with flowers?"

"Okay," he agrees.

"See!" She cries out, "Adorable!"

Cloud rolls his eyes at her antics. He starts to walk them over to land, propping Aerith to sit up on a rock outcropping. She doesn't let go of him, only pulling him with her legs so he can fit in between them.

"We should eat something before we do anything. We didn't eat anything last night," he says. They had walked into Aerith's house and immediately collapsed into bed. Cloud doesn't think he's slept that well since Nibelheim.

"Alright," Aerith looks at him thoughtfully. He waits for her to speak as she carefully traces his cheek bones, the bridge of his nose. "Cloud?"

"Yeah?"

"I never thought we would get here. I hoped but… it's not the same. We really could do anything now, you know? You could do anything."

Cloud frowns at her, "What does that mean?"

"You don't have to stay with me if you don't want to," she clarifies. She won't look at him, staring somewhere over his right shoulder. "I won't be mad if you wanted to go somewhere."

"Aerith," he says, gently cradling her face in his hands. "Look at me, please."

Aerith glances at him before looking away. He waits until she looks back again.

"I love you," he states."I don't want to go anywhere without you. I want to be with you, always, if you'll let me. Why would I want to go anywhere else?"

Aerith shrugs, looking away again. "I don't want you to feel like you have to stay. I know Midgar isn't exactly your favorite place in the world."

"I don't care where we are as long as I'm with you." Cloud kisses Aerith's forehead, gently brushing her hair behind her ear with one hand. His other hand goes to her chin where he tilts it up so she looks at him. Her big green eyes are getting glassy. "Where did this come from?"

"I saw what you are supposed to do in the future and you help so many people. You make a family," Aerith's breath hitches and she lowers her head. "I don't want to take that from you."

"Family?" He asks, recoiling as if she had struck him. "No, I wouldn't have. I couldn't have. Not without you."

"But you did! And what will happen to them now? I can't see anything anymore, I don't know what's going to happen. I wasn't meant to be here anymore, there is no future for me to see!"

"Aerith, I thought you were happy about not knowing what's going to happen. You said so not even ten minutes ago, what happened?"

"I am happy! I just - I don't know. It doesn't feel real. I got to live but what's the cost? I feel like I'm just waiting for something awful to happen."

"Hold on, slow down for a second. What happened to picking our own future? That's why we did all of this, right? To change our fate? We already fought and we won." Cloud's heart breaks at the scared, panicked look in Aerith's eyes. He takes one of her hands and places it on his own chest, something she always does for him when the world gets too overwhelming. "I don't know what family you saw but Aerith, believe me when I say there is no one in this lifetime that I could ever love but you. You're it for me. I can't picture any version of me that doesn't love you."

"No! Wait, not no, I mean yes. Yes, I know that, I saw that. I meant kids, Cloud. You adopt a kid."

"Oh," he says, blinking. He lets that sink in for a moment before saying, "Okay."

Aerith stares at him. "What do you mean 'okay'?"

"I mean, okay. We adopt kids."

Aerith gasps, her eyes widening in disbelief.

"We?" She squeaks.

"I never really thought about having kids, to be honest, I don't even know if I'd make a good parent. But I do know that there's no way I'd start a family without you. Can you picture me adopting kids on my own? I'd make sure they're well taken care of, but to be their father? That's not something someone just _does_."

Aerith gapes at him before stuttering, "It - There's a boy. You found him at the church. But you weren't alone, you had Tifa and Barret. You all became a family."

"Oh, that makes sense." Cloud says. "Of course he was at the church. Did you lead him there?"

Aerith jerks her head in a sharp nod.

"So that's why I took him in, because I knew you wanted me to. Do you want to now?"

"Want what?"

"To adopt a kid?"

"I - Well yes I would like kids one day."

"Then we'll have kids one day. Presumably, that kid, whenever we find him."

"What? Just like that?" Aerith sputters.

"If you want."

"If I - of course I want to!" Aerith stares at him incredulously. "Did we just agree to have kids?"

"I think so."

"Before marriage?"

"Do you want to get married?"

"Of course I want to marry you, what kind of question is that?"

"Okay then let's get married."

Aerith blinks at him, mouth opening and closing without making a sound. Cloud thinks that maybe could've gone a little better.

"We haven't even got a ring," Aerith says faintly.

Cloud sheepishly looks away and Aerith narrows her eyes immediately. "Well,"

"Oh my god," Aerith is completely still, something she never is, not even in her sleep. "Oh my god. Do you have a ring?"

"Sort of,"

"What does that mean? How do you sort of have a ring?" Aerith clasps a hand to her mouth, looking completely shocked. "Oh my god, you have a ring."

"I already knew I wanted to marry you," Cloud interjects quickly. "And I saw this ring at the Cosmo Canyon that I thought you'd really like-"

"The Cosmo Canyon?" Aerith interrupts with a shrill voice "That was ages ago!"

"So I got it just in case!" Cloud rushes on. Oh god, his mother is rolling in her grave right now. She always said he didn't have a romantic bone in his body. "I didn't know when I was going to propose but I knew I wanted to-"

"Propose?" Aerith is as pale as a ghost. "Are you proposing? Are you proposing right now?"

Cloud snaps his mouth shut, his teeth clacking together in his haste. He blinks.

"Um," he says intelligently. "Yes?"

Aerith stares at him and he can do nothing but stare back. He has never felt so confused and so nervous and hopeful in his entire life.

"Okay," Aerith says.

"Okay what?"

"I'll marry you."

Cloud genuinely does not know what to do.

"The ring," Aerith whispers, nudging him with her knee. He jerks away, jumping into action. He scrambles from the lake and sprints to the house, calling over a "Wait right there!" Over his shoulder. Inside, he runs to his materia stash and digs out the ring box. He's dashing back to Aerith in the next second. She looks like she hasn't moved a muscle, only turned her head to look at him. Cloud kneels down next to her and offers her the box. She takes it with shaking hands.

"Oh!" She gasps as she opens it. Inside is a rose gold banded ring, with the most delicate leaf detailing twisting around it. The leaves have tiny diamonds and in the center lies a modest sized diamond. It is simple but intricate and it reminded him so much of Aerith he bought it on the spot.

Aerith's eyes swim with tears as she looks between the ring and Cloud.

"Aerith," Cloud can't breathe, his throat feels so dry and he might just fall right over and die any second. "I love you. I never felt safe and like I had a home until I met you. I love your strength, I love your wit, I love your teasing, I love your laugh, your smile, your happiness. I want to make you happy for the rest of my life. I want to give you everything you deserve and I know I've done horrible things but you make me want to be a better person. You give me hope that I can be. Aerith, will you marry me?"

"Yes!" Aerith shouts. She throws herself forward, colliding into Cloud with so much force they almost topple into the lake. Aerith is crying and pressing kisses to the side of Cloud's face.

"I love you, I love you," she says between kisses. "I can't believe that just happened, oh my god, I love you so much."

Cloud holds her tightly, also in shock. _Did I just propose_ , he thinks to himself, quickly followed by _holy fucking shit, I'm engaged now_.

"I didn't even ask your mom," Cloud finally realizes. "She's gonna hate me even more than she already does."

That, for whatever reason, sets Aerith off into a round of slightly hysterical laughter. She's laughing and still crying, then crying because she's laughing and it's a mess and he's never seen anything so beautiful before. He takes the box from her hand and carefully grabs her left hand.

With the utmost care he slides the ring onto her finger. They look down at their hands, Cloud's larger hand gently intertwined with her smaller one, and Aerith beams up at him.

"It's so beautiful," she says with awe. "Oh, I love it!"

"It reminded me of you," Cloud tells her.

Aerith giggles, "What was it? The leaves? I never would've guessed."

Cloud smiles at her teasing, raising her hand so he can place a kiss over the ring.

"I've never been so happy," he says quietly. He leans forward to kiss her nose. "Thank you."

Aerith loops her arms around his waist so she can bury her head in his shoulder.

"You make me so happy," Aerith tells him. "I can't believe this is real."

"Me neither," Cloud says. It hasn't hit him yet, that the battle to save their world is over. They've been on edge for so long, it feels unreal to be able to sit here, talking of marriage and kids. And yet, here they are. They're alive. They get to live and be together. It feels like a dream but it's real. It's finally real.

**Author's Note:**

> ff7 twitter:  
> [@whenthemakohits](https://twitter.com/whenthemakohits?s=09)  
> The [ring and moodboard](https://twitter.com/whenthemakohits/status/1258097733723803649?s=19)
> 
> Main Twitter:  
> [@yoitsadumbbitch](https://twitter.com/yoitsadumbbitch?s=09)
> 
> This is a mess but so is Cloud so it's okay


End file.
